Jamie - The Journey Begins Ch. 34 Pt. 01 - Sunny Days

The soft warm morning sun showered us in its glow, making bed so damn comfortable, enveloped in golden goodness of the morning sunshine coupled with an occasional gentle warm breeze floating in made for a lovely morning to lay with this, my sexy guy. I lazily ran my finger along his outstretched arm draped across my chest, as he often does, occasionally - subconsciously - Ben's finger would rub my nipple. It was-kinda, well, very cute -- ok, a bit of a turn on too.

All the while his sleepy face remained buried in pillows, only the back of his head and one side of his face visible. I could tell by the subtle change in his breathing that he was in that semi-conscious state, you know, when you're almost awake, but still somewhat asleep.

Back and forth, my fingers gently caressed, feeling every curve of his muscle and bone along his arm, my mind wandering, my breath slowing as images of our lives together from all those years back at the truck crash, buying our home, becoming parents, the countless times that I pranked him. All played on my mind's big screen. A contented, low moan escaped from me that, at first, I didn't even realise it was me, as it was the only slight echo breaking the quietness of our home. "Hmm, it must be early still - so quiet- the kids are still asleep," I said nearly out aloud to myself, I guess.

Here was my soulmate, my partner, my best friend, husband and lover. 'Jamie, you are blessed!' My eyes drifted across our bed: the top sheet was draped across our bodies, like one of those craft things, detailing every outline, you know, like those 3D pin arts. Anyways, I was admiring the line where the sheet crossed Bens back just above his butt, the brown tan of his body against the light-colored sheet, was just... fuck, sexy as.

Wish I had my cell within reach to take a pic: it looked that good - not dirty or anything more erotically subtle, and a nice piece of art on our bedroom wall. Ben had a friend that was a part time photographer. He worked with various news outlets snapping some memorable images. I was lucky enough to fall into his lens by total fluke-luck when I was deployed to the fires in Cali two years back. He snapped me as I was coming out of a farm outbuilding covered in soot, sweat and a grim look of determination on my face after getting a young family to safety. The little girl in my arms was looking up at me wonderstruck or something, maybe?

When I first saw the picture, I was not even sure it was me at first. Ty and Dave messaged almost at the same time. It appeared on one of those Firefighter International pages. They were going crazy. Then, pretty much, it spread throughout the friends and family networks, other services I'd worked for stateside, even back home - well, not home now, I guess - back in Australia I mean.

I was amazed at what picture said and how it was framed. Damn, Jordan was super talented! That pic was in loads of media: it ended up on one of the service mags with the tag line, "Firefighters answered the prayers of many, coming from far and wide. Even down under to help!" which was funny really as I'd been with the USFS for a couple of years. But hey - don't let the details get in the way of a good by-line, right?

There was a follow-up shot where I was caught in the moment of it all: the look of relief, mixed with anguish clearly written on my face. I remember what I was thinking at the time: it was somewhat frightening, maybe, that my thoughts were so transparent - a sense of failure that we had not been able to save all the homes and farms around us. But a lot were spared. I was all the emotions -- exhausted, angry, sad, happy, eager to get back in the fight.

Jordan, realising that it was me in the second picture with my emotions so raw, didn't make that one public. Instead, for my birthday that year, he had them both framed and signed.

Ben loved them, as did my family and friends. They were always at me to put them up in the main part of the house. I thought it was just to... maybe, self-indulgent. But, one day I came home, and they were hanging in the family room. My mom asked for copies. And Ben, being the super son-in-law he is, got them reproduced and framed for her, delivered to the front door with flowers and all... such a kiss ass! Mom loves him so much, haha.

We'd covered the wall from the entry of the house to the family meals area in pictures of our families, friends and places that were special to us. It was like a gallery walk of our lives. At the very start were pictures of Ben's and my grandparents, parents and our siblings. Flowing along, there was even a picture of Ben and me kissing - that kiss in the apartment in Austin not long after the accident. We were going swimming that day. I was in my shorts. Fuck, I looked like I'd been starved! No wonder mom was going crazy trying to feed Lucas and me. Yeah, anyways, Jordan set them all out. It just looked amazing - made our house a home, the melting pot of the Spence and Rush families coming together.

..o0o..

Ben's voice drew me back to the here and now.

"Hmm... that feels nice Jamie."

"Oh... right! Hey you. Sorry, I was a million miles away."

I didn't even realize Ben was awake.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

I took hold of his hand, drawing it to my lips gently kissing it.

"Aww, love you, Skip. How's your head, huh? You and boy wonder had a few last night."

"Feels like there's a herd of cattle thumping around in there," I responded, rubbing my face for a moment. Damn Lucas - aka boy wonder - still loves to party.

"Oh, kids are quiet, Even Grammy's still asleep." Ben's voice was a little muffled by the bedding. I was watching his ear move when he spoke. I never noticed how cute his ears are. Damn! I'm so loved up! I couldn't think of any part of him that I didn't love. I know, right - how mushy is that...

"Damn I'm feeling a little hungover and a lotta loved up, ha-ha. So... guess our kids had a late night playing with Harper, Zoe, Jet, and Daisy. The latter two seemed so big now, Ben. God, it only feels like a year or so since I flew them out to Disneyland while I was working at LACoFD, but now they are in grade school and growing up fast."

"Before we know it, Skip, Asher and Ava will be in Pre-K, then they will be dating, and ..." With that little heart stopping line, he rolled onto his side, those eyes looking so sleepy-sexy resting on me.

I moved in a little closer. "That line has suddenly made me feel a little overwhelmed with the thought of our kids growing up. Ok, love, waking up next to you, Benjamin Rush Spence ... I'll never grow old of this, but relax on making our kids grow too soon, please? Love you."

Ben just smiled, not with his mouth, but with his eyes - he has this look. Leaning in, he placed a gentile kiss on my lips, feather light. "So, husband, seeing we got interrupted yesterday..." I slid my hand along his arm, shoulder, neck, then along his jawline, gently tracing over his lips, gentle enough that it made them twitch. My hand renewed its journey around Ben, finally coming to rest just behind his ear, gently playing with his hair.

Simultaneously, Ben's hand snaked its way down along my abs, following my treasure trail to my half-hard cock, taking me in his hand, giving me a welcome squeeze.

Propping himself up on one elbow, looking down at me, his other hand cupping my jaw as our mouths came together softly at first, but building. My heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest, our kisses, still as passionate as the first time we made out. Damn, I still feel shaky/unsteady when we kiss. I wonder if Ben does ... well, I do ... think we still have that fire between us.

An almighty 'Bang' on our bedroom door snapped us out of our thoughts. The click of the lock signalled 3-2-1 and the door flew open, our heads looking in the direction of sudden - but not unwanted - interruption.

Beaming little faces appeared, "Daddy, Papa!" Ava and Asher ran across the floor leaping onto the bed as we both looked on.

"Hey you guys! Ready for the party today?" I managed to get out just as Ava threw her arms around my neck kissing me, squeezing me so tight like 'Shit, kid! You're gonna sleeper hold me out, haha.'

"Sure, Papa. Is Aunty Stephanie and Aunty Julie coming too?" Her beaming little face pulled back, looking me in the eyes, ever so hopeful.

"Yes, and Uncle Todd, Adam and their kids too."

Asher had decided that he wanted to cuddle with Daddy Ben today. He had his arms around Ben's neck, his head tucked under his chin. God, they look so cute together: my son, my husband, me with our daughter wrapped around me ... all I could think was 'I am fucking blessed.'

Ava kissed my nose and both eyes, like what I do to them when I wake them up. "Love you, Papa." She turned her head, "love you daddy," to Ben. Then she was gone, rolling around on the end of the bed. I was sure any moment she'd crash to the floor, but no. She almost did but recovered into a backflip off the bed and ran out of the room.

"Grammy - you awake?" Ava yelled out. Clearly, she was going to wake my mom up now. Most likely, she'd just hop into bed with mom for a while. Ava and Mom have a really sweet connection - not that Mom didn't with all of her grandkids, but it was sweet to watch.

"Ok, I'm getting up, my boys! Who'd like some breakfast?" Ben and Asher just looked at me, nodding, but making no signs of movement. "Ok -- so room service then." I stood up on the bed and front flipped off it, landing it! "Still got it, Benny boy," I laughed, following our little powerhouse, Ava.

..o0o..

After feeding the kids Mom and Ben a pile of pancakes with caramelized bananas - the way dad made them - plus sides of bacon and savory biscuits that mom made yesterday, (my mates back home would call them mini savory muffins. When we were all at school sometimes there would be 20kids at our place stuffing those things down like candy as an afterschool snack, mom never once complained she just made more), I cleaned up the kitchen and left Mom and Ben chatting.

I got changed into some yard clothes -- ok, running shorts and one of my old gym shark sleeveless 'T's', one that the side stitching was open showing my pecs and flanks. Ben said I couldn't wear it outside the house because people would eye fuck me wearing it. I was all like, 'no-no, no way,' then he showed me a reaction from one of his work colleagues. Ben had snapped a pic of me wearing one of these tops and shared it to a friend's chat they had set up. I was wearing the same deep blue one that I had snipped the side stitching out of, so it was a bit looser fit for running and exercise, etc. Turns out that I was apparently eye-candy - fuckable eye-candy was the term used by lot of them -- plus, was now posted on their chat page as the banner....

It was such an innocent pic, I thought. It really hit home when Hailey asked me (yeah she'd seen the pic) how I staged it. She wanted one of Lucas too. Ben suggested that we do a duo one for our partners. Lucas and I just laughed, but we did. That one was absolutely NSFW for family, just the partners.

'Are you guys crazy?' I remember saying when I saw Ben's work chat exploding. All I was doing was stretching up and twisting, cutting a branch off one of the trees out back in the yard when he snapped it. Originally, Ben cropped out my head so they didn't know who it was. Their reactions made me blush a little: I've never thought of myself as hot looking or anything special.

The smoking hot one, hands down, was Ben in my eyes, the hottest fuck'n man that exists! When I say that to him - Ben - we go back and forth over who was hot. He'd have this look - 'are you fucking kidding me' about him. I'd reply with 'ok maybe I look ok, but YOU, Benjamin, are just plain and simple hotter.'

The stupid part of the argument was that I did admire how hot Lucas looked at times. Hailey was always saying he was fucking hot, we both were. I guess we do look very similar too, not just our cocks right, but the rest of us, different hair color and eyes, but the rest same.

Anyways, it was time to head outside and see if there was much of a mess to clean up. It would kinda help me settle as I was impatiently waiting for my sister, nephew, and brother-in-law to arrive, not to mention, Julie, Adam and their tribe were due soon too.

Ben followed shortly. Mom had booted him out of the house along with the kids. She was shifting into that mode for setup, plus Ben's Mom and her posse of helpers would be here soon, no doubt bringing enough food alone to feed everyone plus the stuff we have.

It will be like all of our combined calibrations I guess: we celebrate the US holidays, obviously, but also a few Australian ones - January 26 - Australia Day, 25 April -- ANZAC Day (our veteran's day), Melbourne Cup Early November, just so our kids have that connection with their Aussie family too. On all and everyone of these occasions, both our families cooked enough for an entire county! We didn't need to cook for a solid month afterwards. Today wouldn't be any different for sure.

I put in my air pods and cranked up one of my playlists, getting into the grove for work. My mind settled after some time with Ben in bed, a nice lazy breakfast with mom and the kids, plus Ben and I talked at length about the whole Karate stuff: it wasn't a big deal now -- he had gotten his head around it all, plus he'd sorted Mason out. In the end, he was more surprised about my skills than anything, said it was a bit of a dirty turn-on too, apparently. I told him how mom and dad made us all go: a few of our friends came along too, including Sean. I assured Ben that it had nothing to do with Sean or anything - it's just something that I chose not to talk about.

I don't think it's something to brag about that you can fight, because it gets you into more of them. He was okay with that.

..o0o..

In what seemed like an hour since I finished tidying the yard and showering, Ben's mom and dad arrived. Mrs. Rush went straight inside after the normal hugs, kissing her grandkids. Still, I can't help but call them 'sir] and 'ma'am' -- just a habit, no matter how many times they try to stop me.

Ben's dad was given orders to help organize us, which turned into starting the BBQ and having a couple of quiet drinks. "Best to stay out of the way, boys," Scott smiled. "This is the secret to a long and happy marriage - knowing when to make yourself scarce." He smiled, that same happy smile Ben and his siblings have.

..o0o..

"Thanks, Dad, although I think Jamie's gonna have a fit if his sister and brother-in-law don't show up soon." Looking across at his husband who was now busy hanging the new large garden swing down the back corner, Ben pointed out. "Jamie came home with it in the back of his truck the other day. Some guy was selling playground equipment wholesale. It's huge - a netted swing that's held by three ropes. It's enormous - at least 3ft across."

Mr Rush looked on somewhat impressed." Ben, my son-in-law better secure it well. It's big enough for adults to use. He'd better tie it to a strong branch. I'm gonna play on that with my grandkids for sure."

"All good, Dad. One of the arborists from Jamie's work came and had a look - even hooked up the ropes so they don't damage the tree. All Jamie has to do is clip them to the base." As I stood chatting to my dad and watching my little family working together, it filled me with such pride - almost brought a tear to my eye. It was so cute to see Ava and Asher passing Jamie tools and holding bits and pieces, just too cute. He is such a fantastic dad.

"Ok, who wants to test it out?" Jamie stood back, admiring his handy work. The kids didn't need a second invite - Asher leapt on with Ava right behind him.

"Well, I think I might entertain my grandkids for a bit." Scott walked toward the laughter. "Is there room for grandad, kids?"

"Sure, grandad," they replied in unison, their faces beaming with delight.

"Jamie?" I called out, trying not to draw the attention of the kids or my dad. "Want to come to share a coffee with me?" Wiggling my eyebrows, the look on Jamie's face confirmed he understood the message.

"Hey Scott - watch the kids for a bit? I've just gotta help Ben with.... something." Jamie asked with a sense of urgency in his voice, while trying to hide it at the same time.

"Sure, just bring me one back, will you?" Jamie looked at his father-in-law, my dad, puzzled. "Coffee, Jamie. You and Ben are getting a coffee, right? Bring me one back?" Dad insisted.

I could see Jamie's face go bright red, his neck too. "Oh yeah, sure, sir, of course! How silly of me." I love how still, now years that we've been married and with three kids, when Mom or Dad make Jamie blush, he drops into 'Sir/Ma'am' mode. It's cute and funny all the same.

Jamie dropped the spanner and grips like they were made of molten steel, spinning on his heels. I swear I thought Jamie was about to break into a sprint. "Come on, Ben," he said as he reached me. "Coffee... let's go," he continued while nodding his head toward the house.

"Ok, ok I'm coming." I couldn't help but smile. Poor boy - we'd been interrupted for three days straight, and my man was getting ... Nah, we BOTH were getting ... a little on edge. Just the thought of feeling his body against mine, his breath on my neck, let alone the thought of that disco stick being inside of me, was giving me a chubby. Ok sure he's a street fighter too now, so that's some sexy cred right there, haha.

We'd made it in the side door undiscovered. Jamie had just walked into our bedroom, and I was right behind him, giving him a gentle push as I stepped through the door.

"Benjamin? Is that you? Honey, come here. I need you to run out to our car. Your daddy left two coolers in the truck. Be a good boy for your momma." She couldn't see me - there were two walls and twenty feet of corridor and kitchen between us, but she knew.

"Ok, Mom, be there in a second." I looked at Jamie. His face was full of surprise, resignation, and a little frustration, mouthing, 'How did she see us, Ben?

"Hey - I'll be one second, mom. You wait here," I whispered, turned and headed down the corridor to the kitchen. By the levels of laughter and talking, it sounded like there were fifty women in there.

Grabbing my mom's keys, my mind was racing. 'Just impeccable timing mom... really impeccable.' "I'll be back in a second." I didn't even wait for a reply while heading out to the driveway.

..o0o..

I could hear Ben muttering under his breath as he walked down the drive. Then, I heard the surprise in his voice. "Oh... hey guys! When did you get in? Jamie's inside. You look amazing, Steph ... nice tan, Todd. OMG - look how big Logan is now..."

"The FUCK!" my feet didn't touch the floor of our room or house as I sprinted out.

Ben was busily hugging my sister in-law when a huge crash behind him grabbed their attention. Both Stephanie and Todd looked around as Ben turned to see his husband getting up off the ground. Stephanie's face said it all - her baby brother trying to get up without looking as uncoordinated as he was currently demonstrating.

"Slipped over... sorry." A red-faced Jamie scrambled to his feet. "So happy to see you guys." Jamie got up slowly and was holding his ribs a little and limping now too...

"James, you're going to break yourself in half." Ben said just loud enough for us to hear, Stephanie just smiled. Funniest thing was the look on my face trying to hide my embarrassment... well, no - I think I'm well past embarrassment when I fall over. Clumsy ninja is back!

..o0o..

I scrambled to my feet. 'Shit my ninja skills are a little off today.' I went to run, but my ribs said, 'no way Jamie,' so I walked as fast as I could, sweeping my sister, nephew, and brother-in-law into a hug. For a moment my ribs hurt like fuck, but I didn't care. I stepped back a little, wrapping my arm around Ben's waist. "Steph, you look amazing. Pearl is so agreeing with y'all. Wow, Todd, you're all tanned, buffed and stuff too! It's... just so good to see you three, little Logie too." I gushed as I kissed my nephew, sister and well, I'm just gonna say 'brother', ok. Can we drop the in-law stuff?